Mom-e-Preneurs

We all know that salaried women earn less on average than men, but a business owner, especially one who provides professional services, is in the unique position to set her own rate. Ask for what you are worth and do not hedge or apologize when you are not the best bargain around. Standing firm about your rates sets a tone in the business relationship that you take your time seriously and know how that time should be valued. If a potential client does not agree, your precious time is better served elsewhere.  

Who are you surrounding yourself with? Are you equally yoked; do they have your back? You are the average of the five people you spend the most time with. The question is, do we help people by staying in the trenches or can we affect change from afar. The true measure of your worth includes all the benefits others have gained from your success but at what cost do we give back? 

In Season 1 episode 17 titled Build Him Up, we talked about the Virtuous woman. I discuss how rich this passage was an how 20 episodes could be done from Proverbs 31. Not only did she highly esteem her husband and represented him well while taking care of her children, home and assistants… she also was an entrepreneur. The Proverbs woman is ethical, sound, talented, intellectual and pure.  What makes brilliant people go left instead of right?

Do not do for a child what they can do for themselves. I do not want to make too grandiose a claim, but there are personality predictors to parenting. We parent with our personalities far more than we think. We look at our children and there is a landscape of facts; we view these facts objectively and we draw a conclusion. We feel our children should know how to do something or understand something because we do. It does not work that way because there are too many facts and variables. Let's explore. 

Who are you and who are you looking forward to BECOMING in 2019? Everyone should map out who they are and what bought them to this point in their lives. Who are you yet to BECOME? Your story is not over! There are still chapters to be written. What footprints will you leave behind impressed in the sand? How will your life's existence be recorded in time by man? 

Are our jobs killing us? Are you an effective leader who instills trust and leads by example? How do the systemic chemicals endorphins, dopamine, serotonin, oxytocin and cortisol effect us in the work place? Let's explore. 

What are the responsibilities of leadership? Why are some born to lead and others chose to follow? Is it DNA? Is it environmental? As a leader what is your charge? Inside our bodies are chemicals that are trying to get us to do things that are in the best interest of us. If you've ever had a feeling of happiness, pride, joy, love or fulfillment all of these feelings are chemically produced feelings; produced by four predominate chemicals. We will explore: endorphins, dopamine, serotonin and oxytocin. The chemicals serotonin and oxytocin is what makes our society great... this is where leaders are born.   

The millennials joining your workforce are employees born between 1980 and 2000; or 1989 and 1999, depending on the source. Unlike the Gen-Xers and the Baby Boomers, the millennials have developed work characteristics and tendencies from doting helicopter parents. "The children now love luxury; they have bad manners, contempt for authority, they show disrespect for elders and love chatter in place of exercise." This quote may read like an older worker talking about Millennials, but it's actually attributed to Socrates over 2,000 years ago. The quote echoes the conventional wisdom about millennials in the workplace: they are lazy, narcissistic, entitled, job hoppers it is said. If that is indeed the case, how do we manage them? Let's explore!   

There are a number of advantages and disadvantages of niche marketing. By definition, a niche market is a subset of a market on which a particular product is focused. Niche marketing defines product features, production qualities, demographics and price range to satisfy specific marketing needs. Understanding the market means you are able to identify the unique needs of your potential audience, provide new and compelling products, tailor your products in the right way, communicate efficiently with the target group and identify how you will position against your competition.   The Advantages are:  Less competition Brand loyalty Best for giving marketing insight Saving on your marketing dollars The Disadvantages are:  Smaller market means smaller profits  Limited growth potential Fickle nature of your patrons Lets explore.   

A wife of noble character who can find? She is worth far more than rubies. Her husband has full confidence in her and lacks nothing of value. She brings him good and not harm all the days of her life. Her children arise and call her blessed; her husband also and he praises her. How do you juggle your marriage?

Are you a Boss? Or are you Bossy? When you have power, influence or authority, look for ways to leverage your leadership by serving others. Leadership is stewardship! 

Do you offer boutique styled goods and services or bargain basement? Your life is formed by the perspectives and philosophies you adapt. Changing your perspective can create an immediate shift in your life and business. To succeed as an entrepreneur, you must consistently look for ways to sharpen your perspective. One of the greatest philosophies I've learned in business is, you get paid for bringing value to the marketplace and if you bring no value, you don't get paid much. If you understand this powerful philosophy and implement it into your life, you will develop a substantial advantage over those who don't! Welcome to Mom-e Nation!!  

If I say golden arches, Mickey D's or Happy Meal... instinctively, each of you know exactly what I am talking about. That is a brand. A brand is anything - a symbol, design, name, sound, reputation, emotion, employees, tone and much more... that separates one thing from another. In the case of McDonald's, the golden arches became part of the brand. Those arches separate their products from all other fast food restaurants and they're a recognizable symbol even with kids.  Two brands died this week and our hearts are broken... RIP Kate Spade and Anthony Bourdain. 

The biggest problem people have these days is too many irons in the fire. you will never be successful at ANYTHING, unless you focus at being your best at ONE thing. The notion of having multiple gigs is a recipe for disaster. Focus on one, be successful at that and the rest will follow. On this episode, we interview Ehmandah Ramsey owner of 210E Workspace, a co-working location in Claremont, California (www.210e.co). Ehmandah is also the founder of She Stories where real women share real stories (www.shestories.co). Listen to her story of how with tenacity and perseverance, Ehmandah was able to overcome her "Denise Huxtable" phase.   

Broke people talk about people and problems, successful people talk about ideals and goals... your conversation chooses your destiny! Do you debrief at the end of each day? What is one thing that went well in your day and one thing that went bad? Write it down and take inventory on the successes and modify and adapt as it pertains to the failure. This will help you determine what is working. 

I observe my thought and entertain only those that empower me. The first step to change is awareness. If you do not know there is a problem, you can never exact change. Your desire to be successful or your desire to be wealthy does not always translate into your ability to put in the work. You can't just be in the right place at the right time, you also have to be the right PERSON in the right place at the right time. 

What is the entrepreneur mindset? It is the ability to act in spite of your attitude, setbacks and mishaps. In this three part series we will delve into The Entrepreneur Mindset, The Millionaire Mindset and The Poverty Mindset. The poverty mindset is why people win the lottery and in six months they are broke. If you do not develop wealth files, entrepreneurial information and knowledge in your stored mental arsenal, you will be in a repetitive cycle of trying to reach a goal and consistently missing the mark. A poverty mindset will perpetuate if you keep the same company and fail to grow. Likewise, an Entrepreneur Mindset will grow based on your influences, what you read and who you surround yourself with.  

What is a paradigm Shift? It is an important change that happens when the usual way of thinking about or doing something is replaced by a new and different way. This discovery will bring about a paradigm shift in our understanding and evolution.    In this episode we explore companies who evolved with changing times and those who did not and are no more. We give examples of  how this has even affected the host in her business and adjustments she made.   Shift! Evolve! Innovate!

Working with your spouse can be pure bliss or a total nightmare depending on how you approach an endeavor. One one hand, the burden of your job can be lightened by the daily sight of the one you love. On the other hand, a relational souring in either realm can leave you trying to avoid each other, not only in the home but in the office too.  Our first guest is my partner in love, life and business: Mr. William McCoy - MBA, entrepreneur, husband of the year and number one father. We navigate the waters of working side by side with only a few simple rules and standards. We work for the name on the back of our jersey's and not the name on the front. We work for the same purpose. We work for the legacy and our children and with that always being in the forefront and our focus, it works for us. We discuss our rules to making it work:  1.  Set boundaries 2. Remember the romance 3. Give space 4. know when to cry "uncle" and tap out 5. Have a defined power structure

We are entrepreneurs! We believe anything is possible. We see opportunities where others see impossibilities. We take risk! We are focused; we hustle! We know that nothing is unrealistic. We feel overwhelming love. We embrace our childlike wonder and curiosity! We take flying leaps into the unknown; we contribute to something bigger than ourselves. We create! We Learn! We Do! 

In this episode we discuss the common phrase: Do what you love and you will never work a day in your life. Is this true? Will you have total bliss as a unicorn just because of your wild and fanciful imagination? Perhaps, but I hope you enjoy eating hay because it definitely will NOT pay the bills.  We also discuss the Hart family who plunged off a cliff to their deaths with six of their adopted children.  Let's go...  

This is our debut episode recorded in January 2018. Taking care of self, taking care of relationships, taking care of the whole woman! Mom-e-Preneurs is a non-profit organization in which we support, praise and acknowledge working mothers who are entrepreneurial and juggle family, home, friends, business, clients, voicemails, emails, marriage and caring for a home all while being a boss. We were originally started in 2010 and immediately garnered the attention of Dr. Laura.  We welcome both men and women. We do not discriminate. We do not engage in the "mommy wars". Every mom has to make the best decision for her and her family.       

The way you start something, often times dictates the way you finish. Recall 6th grade when you were in environmental science. We learned about potential energy and kinetic energy. Potential energy is just stored energy. That's a bomb just waiting to go off. Kinetic energy is energy in motion; its the power released when the bomb actually explodes. Everyone of us is full of energy/potential. But we will never fulfill our purpose until we step into motion; until we step into motion. 

You are author of your time, your value and how your time is spent. No one else can dictate how busy you are or are not or the sweat equity you put into your multiple streams of income. Stop explaining yourself and go be great!

When you have that entrepreneurial fire in your belly, and you are pregnant with anticipation... you just go, go, go! It can be spastic! The ideals and creativity start coming to you from every direction. If you do not learn how to harness it and you do not know how to channel it; you'll have a bunch of irons in the fire and not excel at anything.  As true entrepreneurs we have to learn how to just be still!

You cannot expect an investor, family member or friend to believe in you if you do not believe in yourself.  Commit to writing down one accomplishment a day at the end of each day that you will be able to use as a stepping stone to catapult you into the next day. Eventually, each stone will build a mountain that you will stand atop! Sometime you have to encourage yourself; sometimes you have to speak victory during the test... Speak over yourself and encourage yourself!! Visit www.mom-e-preneurs.com for additional show notes of every podcast episode.  Also Follow Us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram!